A day out: The Metropolitan Art Museum

Small change of scene since I am in New York for a few weeks. It has unlimited offerings for a visitor and one would have to think about where to start. I decided to start with tasting some culture.

It was a fine Saturday when Rahil and I decided to go to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in Manhattan. Though it was 20 minutes from where we were staying, we managed to lose our way and ended up at Roosevelt Island. Once we went to the southern tip and took some photos, we came back on the cable car and managed to find our way back to the museum, thanks to Rahils Android phone.

Tip to readers: Being a blackberry owner is akin to not having a smartphone. I could not do half the things that was possible on an Android or iPhone while looking for directions. All places in Manhattan are very mobile friendly and has all details one would want to know pushed into your phone. I did not have a chance to check how Nokia worked. But with Bing, I am sure it would do the same.

The Museum is structured based on geographic regions, civilizations and art. It would help to recall that the same region might have seen different civilizations over time. We also encountered civilizations that we never heard of.

As soon as we entered, we knew that we would not be able to cover all the sections and hence chose the sections that interested us. The main disappointment was Islamic art, which was nothing more than calligraphy and some old carpets. I was expecting something more Alhambra-like.

The greek and roman sections have plenty of artifacts, but may not interest a visitor as he/she would have been already exposed to it. There was surprisingly numerous artifacts in the South Asian section. However, the most interesting to me was the near eastern gallery (mind you, I did not go through all the galleries)

The place has many cafes inside, but with limited menu options. The admission is $25 for an adult. However, this is a recommended charge and one can gain admission even with a $1 donation (might not be eligible for special sections).